Fine Living Top 10: 2008 Restaurant Openings

Number 7

La Mar Cebicheria Peruana

San Francisco

In 2008, Peru’s celebrity chef Gaston Acurio is expected to open the first American branch of his internationally acclaimed seafood restaurant, La Mar Cebicheria Peruana, along San Francisco’s Embarcadero.

Acurio’s restaurant chain is well-established throughout Latin America and Europe, and each house is known for its modern approach to classical Peruvian food. The San Francisco location — an indoor/outdoor waterfront location that’s part of a $54-million waterfront renovation — will be styled after the La Mar Cebicheria Peruana locations in Lima and Mexico City.

This location, opening in the spring of 2008, will offer the best seafood with Andean, Asian and Spanish influences using Northern Californian ingredients.

Number 6

Restaurant Charlie

Las Vegas

Charlie Trotter celebrated the New Year with the grand opening of his new Las Vegas restaurant, Restaurant Charlie in the Palazzo Hotel.

While the menu for the new restaurant will focus largely on seafood, its multi-tiered construction is one of the more unique aspects of the building. Restaurant Charlie will have four distinct components: a main, 70-seat dining room that features a la carte and table degustation menus; a private dining room with space for 20 guests and a customizable menu; a chef’s kitchen table that is perched in the air above the kitchen, where eight guests will be able to enjoy a daily tasting menu; and Bar Charlie, an intimate seafood bar that highlights some of the best of Trotter’s twists and surprises.

Number 5

Elysian Hotel

Chicago

It seems that Gordon Ramsay isn’t the only chef to own 2008 restaurant openings, as Charlie Trotter will also open a new, ultra high-end house in Chicago’s luxurious Elysian Hotel and Private Residences.

The venture will be Trotter’s first new fine-dining restaurant in Chicago since 1987 and will feature a dinner-only menu that includes his most inspired and flawless cuisine. Trotter will also be personally responsible for all food and beverage operations at the Elysian.

Number 4

Burger Bar

San Francisco

If you’re in the market for a $65-Rossini burger featuring Kobe beef, sliced foie gras and shaved Perigord truffles, then San Francisco’s Burger Bar should be on your must-visit list for 2008.

Fleur de Lys chef-owner Hubert Keller is expected to open the newest incarnation of his Burger Bar restaurant in San Francisco’s Downtown or Union Square neighborhood in early 2008.

As with his Las Vegas house, the simplicity of the format is expected to be one of the selling points for Burger Bar — that, and the food of course. The $5,000 hamburger-and-wine menu item that is so famous in Las Vegas won’t make the jump to the West-Coast house, but the renowned veggie and Rossini burgers certainly will.